MEET the Scouser who’s leading the BBC’s heavily Liverpool-influenced daytime revolution – a movement which means viewers no longer need to wait until the evening to watch some decent programmes.

Liam Keelan, from West Derby, took up the reins as controller of BBC Daytime in February 2008, since when the pre-prime time TV landscape has dramatically changed – not least thanks to quality BBC1 dramas like the made in Liverpool Moving On and Justice.

The latter made its debut last week, while a third series of Moving On is due to be broadcast in the autumn (the second series, meanwhile, is set to be repeated some time this year on Sunday nights).

Both programmes were brought to the nation by Kirkdale-based LA Productions.

Also coming up in the not-too-distant future will be The Case (it’s currently at the script stage), which will be made by Lime Pictures, the Liverpool-based producers of Hollyoaks. It will be filmed here and in Manchester.

“Daytime TV is changing and my role, I think, is to try and make it as distinctive as possible,” says Liam, 43, who attended Cardinal Heenan Catholic High School.

He adds: “Our dramas play a big part in that and we’re also trying to create more events around them. So Justice was put up alongside a factual series called Neighbourhood Blues, while a big census season linked 32 Brinkburn Street with A Hundred Years of Us.

“We are trying to create more attention for what we are doing in the daytime and also produce more consumer and current affairs programmes – such as Rip-Off Britain, which was really important to us.”

He adds: “Moving On was probably the vanguard of all of this in drama, and having Jimmy McGovern attached to it and actors of the quality of John Simm, Sheila Hancock, Dervla Kirwan and Christine Tremarco made others think ‘If they are doing that kind of stuff in the daytime, why don’t we?’ – particularly in a world where The Bill has gone, Brookside has gone and drama commissions aren’t as plentiful.

“Colin McKeown’s company, LA Productions, is a fantastic company to work with. I just know the money we give them will all end up on the screen.

“They do an absolutely brilliant job in terms of casting and the writers they have on board. That’s why so much of the drama I do comes from that area, because there is an amazing talent pool in Liverpool.”

Recalling how the link between the fellow Scousers was made, Liam says: “I met Colin when I was working at ITV and he was pitching for a daytime soap which he didn’t get. But we kept in touch, while I also met Jimmy McGovern around that time.

“Then, later, when Neighbours went from the BBC to Channel 5, we had some money to spend on drama and working with Colin and Jimmy on Moving On seemed like the obvious thing to do.”

Moving On, which showcases some of Merseyside’s best writers and some of the country’s best actors, debuted as a series of five self-contained 45-minute dramas shown over five consecutive afternoons in May 2009.

Liam says we will have to wait and see whether the BBC gives Justice a repeat slot in prime-time, while, looking ahead to The Case, he says: “I’m really excited about it. It’s another five-part, topical, legal-based drama.

“The story is based around an assisted suicide case – did this man murder his wife, or didn’t he? It’s currently at the script stage and is shaping up really well.”

So, is it the case that Liam wants viewers to regard daytime TV as being just as important as prime-time?

“Absolutely!” he says. “One of the greatest responses I get is when people say ‘This should be on at prime-time.’

“That has been the overwhelming response we’ve had and it’s a great compliment. It shows people are enjoying things on their merit and not thinking about budgets.”

He adds: “When things are repeated later in the day it’s a massive compliment to what we are doing.”

Liam originally joined the BBC in 1995, working in audience research. He became head of scheduling for BBC2 in 1999.

He later worked for UKTV, running UK Horizons for a year, before becoming head of scheduling for BBC1 in 2002 and staying for four years.

Liam was part of the team which developed the strategy to reinvent Saturday nights with the launches of Doctor Who and Strictly Come Dancing.

In 2006, he moved to ITV, where he was daytime controller for 18 months.

During this period he commissioned Golden Balls with Jasper Carrott, Dickinson’s Real Deal, The Alan Titchmarsh Show and Daily Cooks – and then it was back to the Beeb and his present position.

Liam lives in Ealing with his wife, Emma, and their two children, Mia, 11 and Finn, nine, but, despite the handicap of living in London, he remains a committed Evertonian.

He gets back to watch the Blues as often as possible, while his mum, Teresa, is a season ticket holder.

His two brothers also still live in Merseyside – Chris is a teacher in Heswall and Tim is a chief superintendent with Merseyside police.

In Justice, viewers may have spotted a framed Everton shirt hanging on the wall of Judge Patrick Coburn’s office (the judge was masterfully played by Robert Pugh).

Was that your idea, Liam, being a True Blue?

“I’m glad you noticed that!” he says, laughing.

“But no, that was producer Colin McKeown trying to butter me up!”

Well done, Colin. It was obviously a good and sensible move . . . but I wonder what your fellow Liverpool supporters would say about it!